Gwynne L. Skinner
Associate Professor of Law
- M.St. in International Human Rights Law (LL.M. equiv.), Oxford University, with distinction
- J.D. University of Iowa, with high distinction
- M.A. University of Iowa
- B.A. University of Northern Iowa, summa cum laude
Professor Gwynne Skinner joined the faculty in the fall of 2008. She directs the International Human Rights Clinic at Willamette and also teaches Refugee Law and Human Rights. Previously, she was a visiting clinical professor of law at Seattle University, where she also taught the International Human Rights Clinic. Prior to law teaching, Professor Skinner was a civil rights and international human rights attorney with the Seattle law firm she founded, the Public Interest Law Group PLLC, a civil litigator with the national law firm of Dorsey and Whitney LLP, and a federal and state prosecutor, initially with the U.S. Department of Justice Honors Program.
Professor Skinner has several years' experience litigating human rights cases under the Alien Tort Statute. She and the Clinic recently filed the cases Hamad v. Gates, et al, and Ameur v. Gates, et al, which allege violations of international law on behalf of two former Guantanamo Bay detainees. She was also counsel in the case of Corrie et al v. Caterpillar, an ATS case regarding corporate liability for violations of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Most recently, Professor Skinner has been asked to serve as the U.S. expert on the Access to Judicial Remedy Project for the International Corporate Accountability Roundtable (ICAR).
Professor Skinner also has substantial experience representing immigrants seeking asylum, including before the BIA, and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. She has also been involved in several human rights fact-findings and reports, including on the conditions of immigrant detention and on human trafficking. Her scholarly research primarily focuses on issues related to human rights litigation in U.S. courts and the role of customary international law in domestic courts. Professor Skinner is a member of the Oregon and Washington bars and is admitted to practice in the district courts of both states, as well as the Ninth, Eighth and Fourth Circuit Courts of Appeal.
Selected Publications
- Misunderstood, Misconstrued, and Now Clearly Dead: The ‘Political Question Doctrine’ in Cases Arising in the Context of Foreign Affairs, forthcoming, 29:3 J.L. & Pol. (Univ. of Virginia)
- Roadblocks to Remedies: Recently-Developed Barriers to Relief for Aliens Injured by U.S. Officials, Contrary to the Founders’ Intent, 47 U. Rich. L. Rev. 555 (2013)
- The Nonjusticiability of Palestine: Human Rights Litigation and the (Mis)Application of the Political Question Doctrine, 35(1) Hastings Int. and Comp. L. Rev. 99 (Winter 2012)
- When Customary International Law Violations Arise Under the Laws of the United States, 36 Brook. J. Int’l L. 205 (Fall 2010)
- Customary International Law, Federal Common Law, and Federal Court Jurisdiction, 44 Val. U.L Law Review 825, (Summer 2010, symposium publication)
- A Clinical Model for Bringing International Human Rights Home: Human Rights Reporting on Conditions of Immigrant Detention, 7 Sea. J. Soc. Just. 649 (Spring/Summer 2009, symposium issue)
- Federal Jurisdiction Over U.S. Citizens' Claims for Human Rights Violations, 37 Ga. J. Int'l & Comp. L. 53 (2008)
- Nuremberg's Legacy Continues: The Nuremberg Trials' Influence on Human Rights Litigation in U.S. Courts under the Alien Tort Statute, 71 Alb. L. Rev. 321 (2008)